PR and marketing insights from the team at C.Fox Communications, a mission-driven strategic communications agency.

February 26, 2013

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), founded by Bill Clinton in
2005, brings together heads of state, CEOs, philanthropists, members of the
media, Nobel Prize winners, and nonprofit and NGO leaders to discuss the
world’s challenges and create innovative solutions. Last week I was invited to participate as a Senior Counselor of C.Fox Communications, and honored to be among such an innovative group of individuals.

The theme for this meeting, determined by President Bill
Clinton, was ‘Mobilizing for Impact’, a logical extension of the fall’s theme
which was ‘Designing for Impact’. Clinton recalled that when he founded CGI, he
saw the need for an organization willing to change from the “I wish” mentality
to an “I will” one. Today, CGI requires
its attendees to pledge action, not merely discuss the great issues of the day.
And that’s the difference.

The breakout session I attended—Resilient Cities—was led by
John Podesta, Chair of Center for American Progress and former White House Chief
of Staff. Architects,
environmentalists, accountants and investment bankers mixed with marketing
executives, global entrepreneurs and representatives from major retailers to
discuss the impact global warming and recent catastrophic events will have on
how and where we build our cities in the future.

Creativity was insisted upon and brilliance was mixed with
the fanciful. With Superstorm Sandy
still heavy in the New York air, solutions seemed to focus more on preparation
for a different world. There was talk of high-tech applications partnering with
the power of volunteerism having the greatest impact in the aftermath of a
disaster.

The thought that really stuck with me coming out of the session was from President Clinton himself,
about the role we can play in having an impact on such challenges: “Think of
people as architects and designers for change.
When we act, we mobilize.”

January 07, 2013

There’s no doubt that 2012 was the year of the image when it
came to social marketing – and from the look of things, this trend isn’t going
anywhere anytime soon. As James Leal-Vallias said in his January 2012 The Social Media Monthly print article, titled
“Looking Your Best in Social Situations,” we’ve quickly rediscovered “something
cavemen, pyramid builders and other ancient people knew instinctively – communicating with imagery is brutally effective.”

Just look at some of the major developments in social media
across 2012:

Pinterest, the pinboard-style photo-sharing
social network that launched in late 2011, saw its popularity skyrocket last
year, ranking
#3 among social networks behind Facebook and Twitter. It also reached a
benchmark 10 million unique monthly visitors faster than any other website
ever, according to comScore data.

Instagram, a social photo-sharing site that
allows users to snap pictures and apply digital filters before sharing with
friends, became so popular that Facebook
spent $1 billion to purchase the company in April 2012. Recently, Facebook
and Twitter launched similar filtering features for their own photo sharing
capabilities.

Facebook brought visuals to the forefront of
personal and company profiles with its new Timeline layout, allowing
users to easily tell their story through photos, videos and other multimedia.
The cover photo feature was so popular that Twitter and LinkedIn subsequently
incorporated a similar layout for users of their sites.

Internet memes, such as Texts from
Hillary Clinton, infiltrated daily life thanks to social media. Texts from
Hillary received 45,000 Tumblr followers, 83,000 Facebook shares, and 8,400
Twitter followers – and that was just during the one week in April that the
Tumblr page was updated. Hillary herself even thanked the site for “all the
LOLz.”

For PR practitioners, the explosive adoption of multimedia
on social networks has caused a drastic shift from what we’re used to – albeit
a good shift, one that forces us to be creative in new ways. We’ve long used
written words to tell a story and, while that will always be an important part
of our industry, the emphasis now is truly on using visuals to get a message
out.

At C.Fox, we focused on making visual storytelling integral
to our agency’s work in 2012. From a PSA that tells the story of aging out of foster care to an
infographic that details the HIV/AIDS
crisis in the Southern U.S., and even in the way we engage on our own
social media accounts, we’ve wholeheartedly embraced the shift to visual.

As 2013 promises to perpetuate this trend, we want to know: How
are you using multimedia to tell your story online?

December 19, 2012

Earlier this year we attended the D.C. Social Media for Nonprofits Conference, hosted at Microsoft. We left the day-long event with a multitude of tips and sound bites from the pros that continue to swirl in our heads. Here are the top five quotes that made us stop and think about finding success in the world of social media.

“Social media breaks are the new smoke breaks.” – Ritu Sharma, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Social Media for Nonprofits, @ritusharma1

Ritu Sharma’s point was that each and every employee needs to be a brand ambassador and, at times, a brand cop. Employees aren’t stepping outside for a cigarette anymore. Instead they’re catching up on their Twitter streams, pinning photos on Pinterest and liking posts on Facebook. As a nonprofit, you should be using this kind of marketing participation to your advantage.

This is something we believe whole-heartedly at C.Fox Communications. And while we don’t have the billion-person clout that Facebook does, we still believe we are strong agents of change. It’s why we take on the clients we do and why we work with them to incorporate social media into their communications plans.

Along with a communications team, Facebook can help facilitate this transformation. Libby Leffler spends most of her time ensuring that nonprofits know how to do just that. At the conference, she touched on many of the best practices we already knew: use visuals, tag other organizations and people, and engage with your fans. She also shared information about some of the free tools available to nonprofits. By visiting Facebook.com/nonprofits you gain access to live support, case studies, and a free best practices guide. You can also share your nonprofit’s Facebook success story, which Facebook may share on the Non-Profits on Facebook page.

“We’re so worried about being liked that we forget what it’s like to be loved.” – Tim Kachuriak, Chief Innovation Officer at Next After, @DigitalDonor

Too often we think about ways to “increase the numbers”. How do we get more likes on Facebook? What can we do to double our Twitter following? But if we go beyond the numbers, and think critically about engaging with our target audience, we move from a “like” to a “love” mindset.

When you develop ideas that resonate with your audience’s interests and needs rather than your desired outcomes, members of your audience are more likely to become advocates for your cause and champions for your brand.

“Time of day isn’t going to turn a loser tweet into a winner tweet.” – Kevin Lee, CEO of We-Care, @Kevin_Lee_QED

There are lots of quick tips for extending the reach of your tweet. Tweeting between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m.; limiting yourself to 120 characters or less; Using bit.ly instead of ow.ly to shorten links. They’re good tips but you need to keep your expectations for results in check.

To develop a “winner tweet,” the focus has to be on content. A tweet that is well crafted and provides relevant, thoughtful information to followers will trump any and all of the above-mentioned tips. The same applies for Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and every other social media platform. If the content isn’t what it ought to be, no time of day will earn you copious amounts of retweets, likes, repins, or comments.

“I fail all the time, but I fail forward and I fail up.” – Tim Kachuriak

A number of presenters at the conference talked about making mistakes. In fact, they encouraged them. With existing social media platforms changing by the minute and new channels popping up just as quickly, there is no magic formula. Mistakes are inevitable, especially when you’re testing new kinds of content or strategies.

One of the great things about social media is that there is no rule that says it can’t change; you don’t have to repeat what you did today ever again if it didn’t work. So failure and social media misses should be seen as opportunities. They are catalysts for improvement and only become negative when you don’t learn from them.

Do you have any other quotes from social media greats that help guide your strategy? Share them here!

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a goal can be defined in
a number of ways, including:

The object of a
person’s ambition or effort

An aim or desired
result

The destination of
a journey

At this crucial time of
year when we evaluate how well we accomplished the goals we set last
January and begin to think about what our goals will be for the coming year,
it’s important to recognize that a goal is merely the end result. What about
the path you take to achieve that goal?

As Alina Tugend pointed out in [what I consider to be] a
brilliant New York Times article
about the perils
of goal setting, too many of us become so focused on the goals we’ve set –
such as getting a promotion, running a marathon, starting a family, etc. – that
we forget to make sure we’re learning from our experiences. Take, for example,
a long-time runner who finally set the goal of running 26.2 miles and joining
the growing group of elite runners who can say they have a marathon under their
belt. She used to love running because it was therapeutic – maybe she came up
with most of her best ideas running – but marathon training became so rigid and
goal-oriented that running lost its luster and began to feel like a dreaded
chore.

There’s no arguing that goals are essential to success. If
you never set out to achieve anything, what exactly is your purpose? However, life
can’t simply be a series of goals that we check off a to-do list one-by-one.
Instead, the focus should be on measuring the important – such as a commitment
to your health and fitness – rather than measuring the measurable.

We all have to set goals, and they should be big – the
low-hanging fruit of goal setting is almost never fulfilling. But while you’re
on the path to achieving those goals, take a break along the way. Circumstances
change. Is this still the ultimate goal you want to achieve? Are you satisfied
with the route you’re taking to achieve this goal? If not, it’s time to
reassess. In the words of Maya Angelou, “life is pure adventure, and the sooner
we realize that, the sooner we will be able to treat life as art.”

So, as New Year’s resolution season is upon us, I have three
tips for you:

Be bold. At C.Fox, we always strive to push beyond the expected and deliver something truly valuable and extraordinary for our clients.

Be reasonable. While the C.Fox team always pushes itself to be better, we also don't want to fall short of expectations -- and that's why we ensure that all our goals, while bold, are also achievable.

DON’T be afraid to change course. In PR, as in most industries, it's always a good idea to evaulate yourself mid-way through a project to make sure the goals you started with still hold true and, if they don't, to recalibrate your priorities before continuing to move forward.

November 26, 2012

(This blog was originally posted on PR News.com in late October, but since we had such a good response to it, we've decided to repost it here. You can view the original article by clicking here.)

Being a small-business owner is not for everyone. It can be hard to separate yourself from what you’ve built, and the responsibility for any organizational misstep is always ultimately yours. And yet I can think of nothing I enjoy more than running the small PR agency that I launched nine years ago, at the age of 25. If you’re thinking of taking the plunge, here are five things to keep in mind:

1. Entrepreneurs—especially small-agency owners—look out for each other.Now 15 years into my professional career, I can still pick up the phone and reach out to any one of my former bosses, many of whom also own small agencies. These are the individuals who taught me the nuances of how to run a successful small agency, from within their own walls.

They’ve taught me the most important lesson that I’ve learned: Find opportunities to support each others' successes.
As a small-business owner, I appreciate the opportunity to support other small-business owners—especially if my clients benefit in the end. Collaborating offers a way to increase your bandwidth and better serve your clients.

2. A small agency environment can cultivate exceptional talent. Just as we don’t find ourselves in heated competition with other small agencies, employees of small agencies often don’t feel the level of peer-to-peer competition that can exist in larger shops. At C.Fox, for example, we have processes in place to expose young talent to senior-level meetings, and a peer recognition program that allows employees to praise one another's successes.
Across the board in small agencies that I’ve seen, and in my own, there is a commitment to cultivating talent that I have always respected, and I always carve out the necessary time and resources to pay that mentoring forward.

3. A small agency affords real flexibility in client mix. In a small-agency environment, there is much more flexibility to retain projects that many large agencies would never pursue, and for us, many of those projects that started out small have turned into multi-year arrangements. We’ve grown with our clients, because we find ourselves as invested in their success as they are. Even though we hold ourselves to standard rates, we still find ourselves able take chances on smaller projects, especially those causes that are important to us as individuals.

4. Atmosphere—and culture—can make or break your day-to-day success. At a well-run small agency, employees are in tune with each other. There is no hiding when 1 of 10 employees is feeling overwhelmed—especially if your workspace has a relatively open floor plan. And as the agency leader, it is important to realize that you set the tone for the day. Aim to create as positive of a culture as possible and success will be on the forefront of employees’ minds, even when they are experiencing momentary setbacks.
To that end, I have found that defining the company culture in a small agency is critical. We invested time to literally define our company culture, and we hold ourselves accountable to maintaining it.

5. Running—and growing—a small agency requires tenacity. And fearlessness. And care. And passion. All businesses feel the struggle of a down economy, and for a small agency, the pain points often come quicker. But being small also allows you to be nimble; to ramp up when needed and to pull back just as quickly. During times like these, though, it is most important to remain committed to your employees, your clients and your mission.

November 05, 2012

What’s the best way to pitch the media? How soon should I
follow up? Can I incorporate social media into my media outreach? These are all
questions that PR pros battle on a daily basis and, given that every reporter
is different, questions that even the best can sometimes get wrong. Taking an opportunity to
gather insight from a number of notable reporters – Amanda Terkel, of
Huffington Post; Amy Harder,
of National Journal; Molly Walker, of
Fierce Markets; and Melissa
Romero, of Washingtonian – C.Fox’s Eileen Collins and Julie Feldman
pulled together a number of tips from last month's Media Roundtable, hosted by WWPR at the National Press Club in D.C.

Exclusives are still a great way to reach reporters;
in fact, they are more important now than ever. With so much information out there and so many
outlets covering the same issues, reporters like hearing that someone wants
them to cover the story first. C.Fox taps into this strategy on a regular basis-- which lets the client and the reporter win in the end. Have a look at this recent exclusive which we granted to USA TODAY for client AIDS United:http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-06-15/aids-diagnoses-south/55655150/1

At the same time,
if a story has already been covered to
death – and you can’t offer a unique, new angle – reporters aren’t as likely to
pick it up. Just like PR pros are trying to break through the clutter to
get their clients’ messages out, reporters are trying to break through the
clutter to make a name for themselves and the outlet they work for.

Although
reporters don’t want to cover a story that has already been written about
everywhere else, it can be helpful to
get a small outlet to cover your story first. This technique gives you a
little credibility, and you can take the small publication’s piece to a larger
outlet for a more in-depth piece. C.Fox once had an article placed in the US Airways in-flight magazine, which helped us then land a 4-minute-plus segment on the TODAY Show!

If you’re inviting a reporter to cover an event, make
sure something about the event is newsworthy – it can be the release of a new report, or simply a keynote address by
a newsworthy speaker. Reporters need a reason to take several hours out of
their day to attend an event, so make sure you give them one.

Don’t send an email and then follow up immediately by
phone. Follow up by phone only if the
pitch is time-sensitive, otherwise it’s best to follow up by email or a phone
call a few days later.

Email subject lines are crucial – they should be short and sweet and paint a very
good picture of what you’re emailing about. And putting the reporter’s name in
the headline doesn’t increase the chance your email will be opened; it’s
actually a pet peeve.

Similarly, emails should be short and sweet. Keep
it to a paragraph if possible. Reporters are generally swamped and working
toward a number of deadlines – they don’t have time to read full-page pitches
from every PR person that reaches out.

Make sure your team is coordinated. It goes without saying, but only one person from the
PR team should reach out to a reporter. And be sure to double check to make
sure you have the reporter’s name, publication name, etc. correct. It’s easy to
make mistakes when doing mass outreach, so be extra careful.

It’s great to use social media to get/stay on a
reporter’s radar, but this particular
panel of reporters came to a consensus that they don’t like being pitched via
social media. They all suggested that PR pros avoid asking them to tweet about a
client or event – it essentially turns their Twitter profile into an
advertising platform.

Be cognizant of what’s going on in the reporter’s
world. Know what days of the week and
what times of day are likely to be crazy for reporters, and avoid pitching them
during those times.

October 18, 2012

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could learn how to improve your
Facebook page from a real-life Facebook staffer? Or how to make the most of
your email marketing campaigns from a Development Director at Constant Contact?
Thanks to Social Media for
Nonprofits, you can.

This month members of the C.Fox team attended the D.C. Social
Media for Nonprofits Conference, a day-long event packed with insights and tips
from social media gurus. We heard from pros at Constant Contact, Facebook,
Microsoft, LinkedIn and Change.org, just to name a few. Here are eight of our key takeaways.

Constant Contact

The Fact: The welcome letter
that automatically goes out to each person who signs up for your newsletter is
the most read email that you will ever send.

The Takeaway: Do not overlook this email. Take the time to
customize it. You want it to be robust, have links to your website, blog,
social media, etc., and validate the person’s decision to sign up.

The Fact: The first 400x600
pixels of your email is the most valuable real estate on your e-blast.

The Takeaway: It’s wise to put your most important information in
this area. If you are a nonprofit seeking donations, ask for them here. If you
are a company that’s hiring, make that known here. Placing important
information toward the bottom of your email decreases the likelihood that it will
be seen.

Twitter

The Fact: Your Twitter
profile serves as a dynamic homepage for your personal brand. The new header image
is simply another opportunity to reinforce your brand.

The Takeaway: If you haven’t already customized your header image, do so immediately. We’ve
changed ours to be a spool of red
thread on the heels of the release of our 2012 State of the Agency Report,
titled “Doing Good Is Our Common Thread”. Need more inspiration? Check out @RyanSeacrest, our local pal @Sisarina, @charitywater, and @NPCA.

Facebook

The Fact: Facebook offers a
number of free tools that can help improve your presence, especially for
nonprofits. Some of these tools include case studies, live support, and a free
best practices guide, all of which can be accessed through the Resource Center
at Facebook.com/nonprofits.

The Takeaway: Nonprofits are able to submit their Facebook success
stories. Facebook then features the stories on the nonprofit page, furthering
their reach. Submit your story here.

LinkedIn

The Fact: 78% of
professionals on LinkedIn are interested in serving on a nonprofit board, yet there
are currently 2 million nonprofit board opportunities available.

The Takeaway: As a nonprofit organization, use LinkedIn’s Board Connect to find qualified
professionals to fill the empty seats on
your board. As an individual, make sure you’re specifying your volunteer
interests and the causes you support. Follow this path to do so: Edit Profile > Add Sections > Volunteer Experience
& Causes.

The Fact: Creativity and
visuals matter on LinkedIn, too.

The Takeaway: Break free from the black and white resume mindset.
As a nonprofit or company, customize your cover image. Just as your header
image reinforces your brand on Twitter, so does your cover image on
LinkedIn. Check out Dell
to see what we mean.

Change.org

The Fact: Due to rampant
social media use, petitions are more powerful now than ever before.

The Takeaway: If you’re working to create change on behalf of a
cause, set up an online petition at Change.org.
It’s free and can be hugely successful (e.g. a petition started on Change.org
is what ultimately made Bank of America reverse its decision to charge $5 for
debit card use).

Piktochart

The Fact: Social media is
driven by visuals across every platform. Photos, charts, and infographics
resonate more than plain text.

The Takeaway: Not every company or organization has a graphic
design team available to create quality infographics. Fortunately, Piktochart is a low-cost tool that does most
of the design work for you. All you have to do is supply the information.

October 04, 2012

The first Presidential debate for the 2012 election between President Obama and
Governor Romney drew the distinction between a candidate who effectively
distanced himself from past policy positions and one who may have commanded the
facts but in doing so appeared distant and detached.

There’s no question that Romney effectively commanded the
room. How? By appearing confident and aggressive but
properly respective of his opponent and the office of the Presidency.

President Obama – despite his command of the facts and readiness
to offer a professorial tutorial defense of his actions during his first term –
never appeared sure-footed. Indeed, he
never appeared comfortable sharing the stage with a candidate who directly and
forcefully challenged and a moderator who interrupted him – the President of
the United States – as though he were a mere applicant for the job.

Elections are about the future. If an incumbent is forced to defend the past,
he loses. If he can successfully use
past accomplishments to paint a picture of a brighter future - he wins.

That’s the first of three Presidential debates. Let’s see how the discussion shifts in the
weeks ahead.

Share your reactions from last night...We'd love to keep this conversation going.

September 20, 2012

Some years
ago, after a prominent public figure, often regarded as a potential
Presidential candidate, bombed trying to give an off-the-cuff speech to a
caucus of the House of Representatives, a New
York Times reporter turned to me and said, “It’s the height of arrogance
not to prepare for a speaking opportunity.”

At C.Fox, we
tell our clients that the key to presenting—whether speech making or simply
appearing on a panel—is live practice.
And even the best public speakers know this. One does not need to be a Romney supporter to
recognize that his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention was
carefully crafted and well-rehearsed to the point that it seemed, well,
unrehearsed. It was an impressive
delivery of an important speech. As a
former convention manager, I cringe when I see someone winging it and am relieved
when I see a crisply delivered speech which was, no doubt, the result of
practice.

And what of
that Presidential hopeful? Many people
say that Lee Iacocca’s candidacy came to a screeching halt that day.

Presenting
is an important part of telling your story. It’s an opportunity to share what
you do, what you have, and what you know with others that shouldn’t be
squandered. Practicing before an audience makes your presentation stronger, and
practicing before a critical audience (as the public often is) makes it perfect. Practice: believe me, it works.

September 09, 2012

Last week, one of the most remarkable moments at the Democratic
National Convention came when former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords,
accompanied by congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz,
led a packed convention hall in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The words we had heard a million times before, but what made this
delivery so effective was the power and courage in former Congresswoman Gifford’s
delivery. It was simply inspired. She moved that audience, and she moved those
watching at home— regardless of political party—in a beautiful act
of resilience, one that very few other messengers could have delivered with
that same impact. She made me, and so
many others like me, want to stand up and recite the pledge along with her,
even though we were watching it from home.

In media and presentation training, we focus quite a bit of time on
the power of strong messages— those that are delivered clearly, concisely, and consistently across an organization are
guaranteed maximum impact. And with so
many competing messages hitting your target audience, it is critical to first get
your message just right, and then embed it effectively across all platforms—on
the web, in media interviews, in your speeches, social media and certainly across
all spokespersons.

But sometimes, like we saw with Gabby Giffords last week, it’s the
delivery that matters so much more.

Regardless of who you are, or how much training you’ve had, being
the messenger takes courage. Even with practice, our nerves can get to us,
and some words may not come out just right. But if we think of every public speaking
opportunity as a chance to be inspired— as much as to inspire— then good things
can happen.